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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28586598">#614: The Groto Murders</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MostWeakHamlets/pseuds/MostWeakHamlets'>MostWeakHamlets</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Death Note &amp; Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fake Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, it's not as dumb as it sounds I swear, podcast au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:02:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,958</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28586598</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MostWeakHamlets/pseuds/MostWeakHamlets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Light Yagami secretly hosts "The Kira Podcast," covering revenge murders and praising those who take justice into their own hands. He goes relatively unknown until famous podcaster, L, picks apart his latest episode about the notorious Groto double murders.  </p><p>Light is determined to discredit L as nothing more than an attention-seeking fraud. L is determined to get The Kira Podcast banned for encouraging violent, illegal crime.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>#614: The Groto Murders</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>If you know me for my other fics: pretend you don't see this. This is my double life. </p><p>I watched Death Note over the holidays, and I fell in love. So, I did what I usually do with content I love. I made an AU. I hope that whoever reads this enjoys what I have so far and considers revisiting with updates and leaving a comment or kudos!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Did you hear that that podcast guy solved another cold case?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He didn’t solve it, Sayu. The police did most of the work for years before he stepped in.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Still, he’s the one who said it was probably a distant family member, and he was right.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The girl’s uncle turned himself in. It’s not like L was at his front door with evidence and a warrant. The guy just cracked under the pressure from the internet.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s still more than the police could do—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s enough.” Soichiro looked over his bickering children and their forgotten meals. “Sometimes publicity can help where evidence can’t, and yes that man peacefully turned himself in. But it’s not safe for civilians to get involved in cases like these. They could get hurt, </span>
  <em>
    <span>or </span>
  </em>
  <span>the wrong could be harassed. It’s going to cause more harm than good someday.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You say that, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>three </span>
  </em>
  <span>cases have been solved after they were on the podcast,” Sayu said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soichiro laughed. “And how many cases do you think I’ve had a hand in solving? I’ll give you a hint. It’s more than three.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but it’s been your job for 20 years. It’d be disgraceful if you only solved three cases.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have a point there.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Light tuned out the rest of the conversation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He disliked L for no other reason besides the fact that he was popular despite being a jerk. L had a reputation around the podcast community. Loyal fans acknowledged that his casual attitude towards crime was unsettling, sometimes morbid, and overall a bit disrespectful. But his stories were interesting and his personal theories were unique. There was also no denying that L was doing something good no matter if it was his intention or not. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he was alone in the privacy of his own room, Light browsed updates among discussion boards. In bold, large font, a new discussion had started at the very top of the usual forum for L. </span>
</p><p>
  <b>[Matsui Murder Case] Do we think that L is finally going to talk about solving a case? </b>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt; He’s never mentioned the past two cases that were re-opened because of his podcast. I imagine he won’t mention this one. There must be some reason for it. Maybe he doesn’t want to spark a wave of vigilantes getting themselves in trouble with amateur detective work. Maybe he doesn’t want to accept praise publicly in case people start putting expectations on him to solve more cases. It wasn’t really his goal to have this happen. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt;&gt; No, the guy probably doesn’t care. He just wants to talk about his “puzzles” and doesn’t care if someone was actually caught. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt;&gt;&gt; He does have a sense of justice, though. I think it’s unfair to say that he doesn’t care about cases being solved. He probably just doesn’t want any more attention than he’s already getting. A big fanbase would probably ruin his whole vibe. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>L didn’t have any social media as far as anyone knew, and he was never interviewed despite nearly everyone in the country having heard of his podcast thanks to recent newspaper articles. There was never a way of knowing how he felt about the cases being solved unless he someday chose to talk about it while recording. L was a complete mystery to everyone but the people or person named “Watari,” who were credited as the producer for the podcast. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Light refreshed the page. </span>
</p><p>
  <b>[Episode #613] New case announcement! At the end of the new ep, L said that he’s going to talk about the double murder of the Goto family. </b>
</p><p>
  <span>Light clicked on the link. He couldn’t believe it. He had just covered those murders. The victims were abusive parents who left their young child to die of neglect (at least Light and a small internet community believed so). While they were awaiting their court case, their home caught fire in the middle of the night, and they died. It was presumably the work of an arsonist. An arsonist who was seeking revenge on behalf of the child. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Light had praised them, whoever they were. They had righted a wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And his listeners agreed as they usually did whenever Light brought a new case on </span>
  <em>
    <span>The Kira Podcast. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Light scrolled through the 137 comments. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt; I know the parents probably didn’t deserve much better, but I hope L helps catch this guy, too! Who knows who else they’ll go after. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt;&gt; No one knows their motives. Who’s to say they even knew who their victims were? It could be a freaky coincidence. No one knows if they’ll do it again. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt;&gt;&gt; Regardless of their motives or if they knew who their victims were, it’s a shame the court case never happened. They deserved to be put on trial and face real consequences, and the rest of the family deserved the closure of their sentence and a complete investigation. Now, no one is going to know what really happened, and the investigation can’t go much further. Hasty “revenge” just puts more stress on everyone involved. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just because we think someone deserves the worst (and don’t get me wrong. I think child abuse is one of the worst crimes out there, and these people most likely were guilty) doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. They were already in the process of being punished, and like I said, there’s never going to be that proper closure. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; Damn you right.  </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>No. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was no doubt that the parents were guilty. There were already reports from teachers they suspected something was wrong, and no one else had visited their home for weeks. You had to be an idiot to believe there was a shred of a possibility that they were innocent. And all this talk of “closure.” The justice system was far too corrupt to provide any real closure. The case could have been dragged on only to find that there wasn’t enough evidence. The parents could have been let go or not sentenced to enough time in jail. There was no guarantee they’d feel remorse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There could be no sympathy for people like that. Who could hurt a child? </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt; Another podcast just did an episode on this, too. I wonder if it’s just trending this much or if L is doing this in response to the podcast. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt;&gt; Maybe a mix of both? It’s been a major news story, so I wouldn’t be surprised if L had this planned for a while but wants to talk about what others’ have said. I’m honestly really excited to see what he does. He hasn’t done a major case like this in a hot minute, and I was getting bored of the small town stories. btw are you talking about The Kira Podcast? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt;&gt;&gt; I am!! Did you listen to his episode? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; I tried, but the guy freaked me out too much to finish it. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, a fan of L’s would be “freaked out” by him. They all had a skewed view of crime and justice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d show them. He’d respond to L’s episode. Whatever he said, Light would match it. He would have a better episode than L did. He grabbed his notebook—the notebook he kept hidden in his desk for no one to see—and began scribbling new notes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In a competition that didn’t exist, Light would win. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Watari walked up the stairs that led to L’s studio. In one hand he held that day’s newspaper, flipped open to the article that covered the closing of the Matsui case and acknowledged L’s influence. In the other hand, he held a slice of two-tiered chocolate cake topped with raspberries and chocolate frosting. It was an extra sweet treat as a sort of celebration, although it was hardly different from L’s usual diet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>L refused to accept many compliments that morning when the news broke, saying that it was no more than a puzzle he was entertained by. Nevertheless, Watari thought the cake would do something to communicate how impressed he was with L without the embarrassment of having to hear Watari use the word “proud.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With the newspaper tucked under his arm, Wataria knocked on the door before entering. He never waited for a response because one usually didn’t come. One especially wouldn’t come this time because when Watari walked in, L was curled up in his chair, fast asleep. The light of the dancing screensavers on the monitors bounced off his pale face. Shadows cast over him made the dark circles under his eyes look more pronounced. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t uncommon to see. L often stayed up for days on end, alternating between tossing and turning in bed and sitting up working until early morning, only to drop asleep anywhere besides his bedroom. Watari had counted the hours L had been awake this run. It had been 75 hours at dinner, and Watari suspected that hour 76 wasn’t reached. It wasn’t the longest L had gone without sleep, but it was still an inhuman length. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Watari laid the cake and paper on the desk. He was careful not to disturb the chaotic organization of L’s files and script, but he did look over them and thumb through a few pages. The script was, as usual, vague. Rather than actual lines and cues, the sheets of paper were filled with talking points and aggressive red lines crossing out some paragraphs and replacement paragraphs crammed into the margins. At the top, in all caps: #614 THE GOTO MURDERS. The manilla folder had a matching, printed label with papers bursting out.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>L usually recorded and edited episodes well in advance, but he picked up the Goto case late. He decided to shoehorn it in that week before it faded to the back of the public’s mind, pushing back other cases that weren’t so trendy (L rarely covered “trendy” cases on principle, but he had made an exception when he saw the polarized conversation surrounding it) and taking his time editing and keeping tabs on any developments. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was almost an obsession at this point. He spoke about it at length and asked Watari to let him know if he heard anything new—anything at all. He was convinced that there had to be more to the incident, and he was going to put out as many feelers as he could to learn more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the top of a scattered stack of papers was a sheet of notes taken in L’s scratchy, nearly illegible handwriting. Watari had tried his best to improve his penmanship as a child, but his charge preferred computer keyboards over pens and paper. Eventually, it became a lost cause. The only line Watari could make out was “The Kira Podcast” along the top before messy, unaligned bullet points followed. So long as L could reference it later, all was well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Watari touched L’s shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’d be more comfortable in bed.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>L hummed. Not in a whiny, drowsy way but in a short, certain way. As if to say that he was aware, but he wasn’t going to move. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Watari grabbed the blanket that was always left in the studio, tucked away in a corner just out of sight, for these nights. He laid it over L the best he could. It was only a matter of time before L’s legs slipped out of their usual, crunched position and fell out in front of him in an almost normal pose. But until then, Watari would make sure that his exposed toes were kept warm with the rest of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Watari left the cake sitting on top of the newspaper, picked up an empty tea mug off the desk, and twisted the doorknob as he shut the door to make sure the latch didn’t click too loud when it slid into its hole.  </span>
</p>
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